Seal



5. M. MCBERG Dec} 23, 1969 SEAL Filed Jan. 10, 1964 United States Patent3,485,521 SEAL Sigurd M. Moberg, East Orange, N.J., assignor to E. J.'lIirooks Company, Newark, N.J., a corporation of New ersey Filed Jan.10, 1964, Ser. No. 336,953 Int. Cl. B65d 55/06 US. Cl. 292-320 1 ClaimABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A seal comprising a housing of plasticmaterial, shaped to receive a wire shackle having hook means formed tobe embedded in the material of the housing when an attempt is made towithdraw the shackle from the housing.

This invention relates particularly to seals in which a relativelystiff, resilient wire serves as a shackle or loop, captured securelywithin a housing to close and lock the loop; the general function of theseal being somewhat similar to the function of a padlock but differingfrom the latter in that, once it has been locked, it cannot be openedexcept by so breaking or deforming it as to render it incapable of beingre-used.

Such seals have hitherto been made with a sheet metal housing into whichthe ends of a wire shackle are inserted and held captive within thehousing by engagement of hooks formed on the ends of the shackle withnotches formed in the interior of the housing.

The formation of such interior notches in a metal housing necessitatesmaking the housing in two pieces which must be riverted, welded orotherwise fastened together; a relatively costly procedure. Moreover,the metal used in the housings is relatively costly; and such metalseals are relatively heavy, thereby giving rise to high cost oftransporting them to their users.

Apart from such high costs, it has been found possible to pull the wireshackle from such a metal housing because when a substantial pull isapplied to the wire, the hooks bend within the housing and lose theirlocking effectiveness. When a wire shackle has been pulled from thehousing, an interloper may reapply the seal or lock by reshaping andreinserting the ends of the shackle, or he may use a new piece of wire,something quite easily obtained.

An important object of this invention is the provision of such a wireshackle seal which cannot be opened except in such a manner as to renderit non-reusable.

Another important object is to provide such a seal with a housing whichis of material lighter in weight and less costly than metal and whichcan be manufactured more economically than a metal housing.

Another important object is the provision of such a seal in which thewire shackle, in the device as manufactured and delivered to a user, isattached to the seals housing in such a way that the shackle, innon-locked condition is closed against becoming entangled with othersimilar seals, yet can be instantaneously opened to enable it to beapplied to an object to be sealed.

Another important object is the provision of such a seal in which itshousing lends itself to being firmly 3,485,521 Patented Dec. 23, 1969grasped to serve as a handle facilitating application of the device toan object to be sealed.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent fromthe present description and the accompanying drawing in which thisinvention is set forth and shown, for illustrative purposes, as used toseal a cover upon a meter without, however, limiting the invention tothat particular use.

These objects are achieved, for the most part, by providing such a sealwith a housing of plastic material which is adequately non-deformable toserve as a housing. However, the plastic material is soft enough that.if the shackle is forcefully pulled in an attempt to remove it from thehousing, hooks at the ends of the shackle pierce and enter endwiselyinto a mass of the plastic material of the housing. The application of apull, sufficiently forecful to pull out either end of the wire shackle,ruptures the housing to such an extent as to render it non-reusable.Ordinarily, an interloper, after rupturing such a seal, would not have areplacement seal and, therefore, would leave evidence of theft ortampering.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of the subject seal as applied to ameter.

FIG. 2 is a moderately enlarged front elevational view of the seal inlocked condition.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the seal, enlarged over FIG. 2,substantially on the line 3-3 of the latter figure, the shackle beingpartly broken off.

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the seal, generally similar toFIG. 2, but showing the seal in non-locked condition; one side portionof the wire shackle being shown in chain lines as in closed position,preventing entangling of plural similar seals, and in full lines asreleased from closed position to open position in readiness to beapplied to an object to be sealed.

FIG. 5 is a central sectional view substantially on the line 5-5 of FIG.3.

FIG. 6 is a view generally similar to FIG. 5, but illustrating theeffect of an attempt to pull the shackle forcefully from the housing.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view substantially on the line7--7 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 is a central sectional view generally similar to FIG. 2,illustrating a modification of this invention; the modified device beingin locked condition.

FIG. 9 is a view generally similar to FIG. 8, but illustrating theefiect of an attempt to pull the shackle forcefully from the housing ofthe modified device.

It should be noted that in this specification "and in the accompanyingclaims certain terms are employed to have meanings as follows (1) lockedto refer to the seal and its parts in a condition, as shown, for examplein FIGS. 2, 5, and 8 in which the wire shackle is a closed loop whichcannot be pulled from the related housing without destroying the device,(2) open to refer to the seal with one end of the wire free of thehousing, as shown in full lines in FIG. 4, so that the shackle can beapplied to an object to be sealed, and (3) closed to refer to the closedbut non-locked condition of the wire shackle as shown in chain lines inFIG. 4.

The seal illustrated in FIGS. l-7 comprises a wire shackle 10 and ahousing 12. The shackle should be of stiff spring steel wire, preferablyabout .045 to .050 inch thick, the wires characteristics, in any event,being such that the device will function as hereinafter described. Thehousing should preferably be of plastic material which gives it suchrigidity as to hold portions of the wire shackle locked therewithinagainst possible removal therefrom without so damaging the device as torender it nonreusable.

The shackle 10 is formed with a relatively short free leg 14, arelatively long anchored leg 16 and a loop portion 18 integrallyinterconnecting the two legs. Said legs, respectively, are bent inwardlyto form detents in the form of reversely bent hooks, reversed endportions 20 and 22 of which diverge from an adjacent portion of theshackle.

The housing 12 may be formed of plastic material which is suitable inthe sense of enabling the housing to cooperate with the wire shackle inthe manner hereinafter set forth. The material may, for example, bepolyethylene which molds to a hardness of approximately 95 on thedurometer scale.

The housing 12, in the form illustrated, is generally rectangular inshape, and its bottom is somewhat rounded. It is approximately threetimes the thickness of the wire used for the shackle 10 and is formedwith two identical pockets 24 and 26, only slightly wider, from front toback, than the thickness of the shackle wire, and symmetrically disposedtoward opposite sides of the housing. These pockets are separated by aninner rib 28 on opposite sides of which are formed notches 24a, 24b, 24cand 26a, 26b and 260 (identified in FIGS. and 6), disposed in threepairs; the constituents of each pair being in a common plane extendingtransversely of the housing.

The mentioned notches may be formed, as an incident of the molding ofthe housing, by small transverse ridges provided on inner mold memberswhich form the pockets 24, 26; said members being Withdrawn from saidpockets as soon as the molded material commences to solidify. At thattime, the material will yield sufficiently to permit withdrawal of themold members and then will go back to its shape as initially molded.Thus, the housing can be formed in a single molding operation.

The tops of the two opposite side walls of the housing are formed withnotches 24d and 2611; one of such notches being related to each of thepockets 24 and 26. The housing also is formed with lateral flanges 30 atthe top of each side wall extending from the notch 24d or 26d on thatwall to the opposite edge of the same wall. These flanges strengthen thetop of the housing and facilitate handling and locking of the seal.

The seal, as delivered by the manufacturer to the user, is as shown inFIG. 4 with the wire shackle in its condition, as indicated in brokenand chain lines, in which the end of hook 22 of the shackles leg 16 isseated within notch 24a and a knee portion of hook 20 projects intonotch 26d of the housing without being locked within the pocket 26. Theend of hook 20, at that time, projects from the housing so that, whenthe seal is to be applied to some object such as, for example, a haspassembly 60 on a meter cover 62 (FIG. 1), the hook 14 can easily andquickly be manually sprung clear of the housing to its condition asshown in full lines in FIG. 4.

The hook 14 is then pushed through a hasp eye 64 of the hasp assembly,after which the knee of hook 14 is reinserted in the notch 26d. Afterthe seal has been thus applied to the hasp assembly, the housing 12 ispushed upwardly in relation to the shackle to cause the latters hook 22to slide downwardly in pocket 24 from notch 24a into notch 24c (FIG. 5)and to cause hook 20 of the shackle to slide downwardly in pocket 26 toseat the end of the latter hook into notch 2612. During this sliding,said hooks become compressed to some extent whereafter they expand, dueto the resiliency of the shackle wire, so that the ends of said hooksseat firmly within the latter two notches, thereby firmly locking thedevice so that it cannot be opened without becoming incapacitated forfurther use.

Such incapacity for further use .arises from the fact that, if oneattempts to open the seal by forcibly pulling the wire shackle from thecasing, the ends of the hooks 20 and 22 burrow into the plastic materialof the rib 28 from notches 26b and 24c. The hooks, because of theirangular attitude when the device is locked as in FIG. 5, and because oftheir resiliency, tend to burrow more deeply into the rib 28 as such apulling force is increased. The more deeply such burrowing progresses,the more support is derived by the hook from the surrounding plasticmaterial of the burrow to prevent collapse and withdrawal of the hookfrom the housing.

It often happens that an interloper desires to commit theft or to tamperwith some device without leaving evidence of his acts. As he,ordinarily, would not have a similar replacement seal, the use of sealsaccording to this invention defeats such unauthorized activities.

However, one authorized to remove such a lock for servicing or otherproper purposes, would merely cut the wire shackle to remove apreviously applied lock, and he would have a similar lock to replace theremoved lock. It will be realized that locks or seals, according to thisinvention are so inexpensive that they may be discarded after a singleuse.

The modification, illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, differs from the seal ofFIGS. 1-7 chiefly in having only a single pocket 64, and in that itsshackle 50 has legs 54 and 56 with hooks 60 and 62 which, instead offacing each other and engaging notches at opposite sides of rib 28, facein the same direction and engage notches 64a, 64b, and 640 in a wall ofsaid single pocket.

When the modified seal is closed for delivery by the manufacturer to theuser, but not locked, hook 62 is engaged within notch 64a and the kneeof hook 60 is seated within the upper end of the pocket 64. Thus, asWith the embodiment of FIGS. 17, the short leg 54 may easily be pulledclear of the housing after which the open seal may then be applied tothe hasp assembly 60 (or equivalent) and then closed thereon byre-positioning the knee of hook 60 and then pushing the two hooksdownwardly in the pocket 64 until they engage the notches 64b and 64c toput the seal in locked condition as in FIG. 8.

It may be seen from FIG. 9 that, if the shackle 50 is forcefully pulledupwardly in the housing 52, the hooks burrow into the plastic materialof the housing with much the same effect as in the device of FIGS. 17,particu larly as illustrated in FIG. 6.

It will be clear that the concepts disclosed herein may be put intopractice in various other ways without, however, departing from thisinvention as set forth in the disclosure.

I claim:

1. A shackle seal comprising a housing of plastic material formed with adeep pocket therein and a shackle connected at one end to said housingand having, at its other end, a resilient, reversely bent, wire hookwith a divergent free end portion; said hook being insertable into saidpocket endwisely of the latter and, when in said pocket, beingcompressed whereby the free end extremity of said divergent portion isin forceful engagement with a side wall portion of said pocket, and thedegree of hardness of said plastic material and the stiffness of thewire of the hook and the thickness of said wire at said extremity beingsuch that, upon attempted forcible pulling of the hook from the pocket,the hook expands and its divergent end portion burrows into plasticmaterial of the housing which defines said pocket, to opposedisplacement of the hook from within the pocket, said pocket being of abreadth only slightly greater than the thickness of the wire of saidhook, said housing being formed with a pair of such pockets, in side bysaid, parallel relationship, and said shackle having such hooks atopposite ends thereof adapted for in- .l l S pockets in side by side,parallel relationship and for such engagement therein; one of said hookscomprising means by which the said shackle is connected at one end tosaid housing, said shackle consisting of a single piece of wire havingan intermediate loop portion, and a relatively short leg and arelatively long leg on which legs said hooks are disposed, and saidhousing being formed with a plurality of internal notches in saidpockets; one of said notches in each pocket being adapted for engagementby said extremity. of the hook on said long leg to hold the shackle tothe housing in an unlocked condition and for engagement by saidextremity of the hook on said short leg to retain the latter hook in thehousing in a locked condition, of the shackle, and another of saidnotches in each pocket being adapted for engagement by said extremity ofthe hook on said long leg in locked condition of the shackle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD D. MOORE, PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R.

